Destination Guides Podcasts

We Travel There with Lee Huffman hands the microphone to people who know a city from the inside, and the advice is pleasingly unglamorous. In Bhopal, India | Upper Lake, Holi Festival of Colors & Birla Temple, Huffman's guests explain paying cab drivers through UPI, a scan-a-QR-code bank transfer. They also joke that ride-sharing isn't available because "sharing is caring that doesn't apply in bhopal." The Shanghai episode is just as concrete: sign up for Alipay and WeChat, then test your ATM card at the airport.

Keep Travelling – Your African Story talks to the people who run lodges and trips, which gives it access and a sales interest at once, since its publisher sells tailored African journeys. In Victoria Falls Safari Stay | What Makes Masuwe Lodge Different?, general manager Cassius Tembo recalls a game-drive vehicle getting stuck. The vehicle sent to help got stuck too, and he walked with his phone in hand hunting for signal until a tractor came around 10 at night. It tells you more about the rain season than any brochure line. Travel with Rick Steves uses local guides the same way. Two Hungarian guides explain that their region has about a thousand hot springs and uses about a third of them, and they steer newcomers wary of clothing-optional days to Széchenyi or Gellért first.

Travel with Amateur Traveler Podcast, hosted by Chris Christensen, gives these episodes a single trip each. Lake Constance Bike Trip (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) runs 65 minutes through monasteries, vines smuggled in from Switzerland and reconstructed prehistoric pile dwellings. One reconstruction dates from the Nazi era, and its guard towers turn out to have no evidence behind them. In Walking the Thames Path Trail in England, Heather Cowper puts typical days at 20 to 25 kilometres, or six to seven hours with stops, and warns that in central London you are "wading through tourists." Walkers and cyclists will find more on the Adventure & Outdoor Travel page.

Beach Travel Wine Podcast, from Lyle and Leanne and pitched at travellers over 50, is two voices comparing notes. In Dubrovnik, Four Days in Dubrovnik, Croatia, after a long run of history, one host breaks in: "I feel like we're not really giving this place a lot of credit." That interruption is the show at its most useful. Their Kotor episode is practical, with about $250 a night for the Hotel Monte Cristo and a firm vote for a private car.

Destination Eat Drink on Radio Misfits reads a city through its food. In Destination Eat Drink – Kyoto, Japan with Lauren Shannon of Arigato Travel, Shannon tells Brent Peterson that "tea house" is misleading in Kyoto's flower towns, where geiko perform. She also explains why saikyo yaki is common in Kyoto but fancy in Tokyo. In the Columbus, Ohio episode, Bethia Woolf says that when she wants curry she often heads for a Pakistani restaurant.

Travel in 10: Travel Podcast suits listeners who enjoy a friendly disagreement. In Mexico City - Part 3 : The Best Areas and Hotels to Stay in CDMX, a 17-minute episode, one host loves hotels because someone appears to fix the air conditioner, while the other wants an Airbnb kitchen once a stay passes three nights. Its rodeo bonus episode, from Hidden Trails of Oregon, is built from sound on the ground, down to a bucking bronco kicking dirt into a presenter's face.

Hawaii Vacation Connection is run by the owners of Hawaii Aloha Travel, and Bruce gives out his phone number freely. Oahu vs. Maui: Comparing the Differences for Your First Hawaii Trip is opinionated in a useful way: Bruce generally advises heading north first to avoid some traffic. He also walks back his own "Oahu's the new Maui" line on air. For booking mechanics, try the Travel Tips & Planning page, or step back to the Travel guide and the Leisure category guide.